Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Kalidasa
Kalidasa, (kaalidaasa), India's greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist. In
spite of the celebrity of his name, the time when he flourished always has been
an unsettled question, although most scholars nowadays favor the middle of the
4th and early 5th centuries A.D., during the reigns of Chandragupta II
Vikramaaditya and his successor Kumaaragupta. Undetermined also is the place of
Kaalidaasa's principal literary activity, as the frequent and minute geographic
allusions in his works suggest that he traveled extensively.
Numerous works have been attributed to his authorship. Most of them, however,
are either by lesser poets bearing the same name or by others of some intrinsic
worth, whose works simply chanced to be associated with Kaalidaasa's name their
own names having long before ceased to be remembered. Only seven are generally
considered genuine.
Plays
There are three plays, the earliest of which is probably the
Malavikaagnimitra ( Malavikaa and Agnimitra), a work concerned with palace
intrigue. It is of special interest because the hero is a historical figure,
King Agnimitra, whose father, Pushhpamitra, wrested the kingship of northern
India from the Mauryan king Brihadratha about 185 B.C. and established the Sunga
dvnasty, which held power for more than a century. The Vikramorvashiiya (
Urvashii Won Through Valor) is based on the old legend of the love of the mortal
Pururavaas for the heavenly damsel Urvashii. The legend occurs in embryonic form
in a hymn of the Rig Veda and in a much amplified version in the
ShatapathabraahmaNa.
The third play, AbhiGYaanashaakuntala ( Shakuntalaa Recognized by the Token
Ring), is the work by which Kaalidaasa is best known not only in India but
throughout the world. It was the first work of Kaalidaasa to be translated into
English from which was made a German translation in 1791 that evoked the often
quoted admiration by Goethe. The raw material for this play, which usually is
called in English simply Shaakuntala after the name of the heroine, is contained
in the Mahaabhaarata and in similar form also in the PadmapuraaNa, but these
versions seem crude and primitive when compared with Kaalidaasa's polished and
refined treatment of the story. In bare outline the story of the play is as
follows: King Dushhyanta, while on a hunting expedition, meets the hermit-girl
Shakuntalaa, whom he marries in the hermitage by a ceremony of mutual consent.
Obliged by affairs of state to return to his palace, he gives Shakuntalaa his
signet ring, promising to send for her later. But when Shakuntalaa comes to the
court for their reunion, pregnant with his child, Dushhyanta fails to
acknowledge her as his wife because of a curse. The spell is subsequently broken
by the discovery of the ring, which Shakuntalaa had lost on her way to the
court. The couple are later reunited, and all ends happily.
The influence of the AbhiGYaanashaakuntala outside India is evident not only
in the abundance of translations in many languages, but also in its adaptation
to the operatic stage by Paderewski, Weinggartner, and Alfano.
Poems
In addition to these three plays Kaalidaasa wrote two long epic poems, the
Kumaarasambhava ( Birth of Kumaara) and the Raghuvamsha ( Dynasty of Raghu). The
former is concerned with the events that lead to the marriage of the god Shiva
and Paarvatii, daughter of the Himaalaya. This union was desired by the gods for
the production of a son, Kumaara, god of war, who would help them defeat the
demon Taaraka. The gods induce Kaama, god of love, to discharge an amatory arrow
at Siva who is engrossed in meditation. Angered by this interruption of his
austerities, he burns Kaama to ashes with a glance of his third eye. But love
for Paarvatii has been aroused, and it culminates in their marriage.
The Raghuvamsha treats of the family to which the great hero Rama belonged,
commencing with its earliest antecedents and encapsulating the principal events
told in the RaamaayaNa of Vaalmikii. But like the Kumaarasambhava, the last nine
cantos of which are clearly the addition of another poet, the Raghuvamsha ends
rather abruptly, suggesting either that it was left unfinished by the poet or
that its final portion was lost early.
Finally there are two lyric poems, the Meghaduuta ( Cloud Messenger) and the
Ritusamhaara ( Description of the Seasons). The latter, if at all a genuine work
of Kaalidaasa, must surely be regarded as a youthful composition, as it is
distinguished by rather exaggerated and overly exuberant depictions of nature,
such as are not elsewhere typical of the poet. It is of tangential interest,
however, that the Ritusamhaara, published in Bengal in 1792, was the first book
to be printed in Sanskrit.
On the other hand, the Meghaduuta, until the 1960's hardly known outside
India, is in many ways the finest and most perfect of all Kaalidaasa's works and
certainly one of the masterpiece of world literature. A short poem of 111
stanzas, it is founded at once upon the barest and yet most original of plots.
For some unexplained dereliction of duty, a Yaksha, or attendant of Kubera, god
of wealth, has been sent by his lord into yearlong exile in the mountains of
central India, far away from his beloved wife on Mount Kailasa in the Himaalaya.
At the opening of the poem, particularly distraught and hapless at the onset of
the rains when the sky is dark and gloomy with clouds, the yaksa opens his heart
to a cloud hugging close the mountain top. He requests it mere aggregation of
smoke, lightning, water, and wind that it is, to convey a message of consolation
to his beloved while on its northward course. The Yaksha then describes the many
captivating sights that are in store for the cloud on its way to the fabulous
city of Alakaa, where his wife languishes amid her memories of him. Throughout
the Meghaduuta, as perhaps nowhere else So plentifully in Kaalidaasa's works,
are an unvarying� freshness of inspiration and charm, delight imagerry and
fancy, profound insight into the emotions, and a oneness with the phenomena of
nature. Moreover, the fluidity and beauty of the language are probably unmatched
in Sanskrit literature, a feature all the more remarkable for its inevitable
loss in translation.
